


DYE

by perthtalay



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Angst, Childhood Friends, De-Aged Character(s) (in the beginning), I'm Sorry Chan Is An Asshole, Implied toxic relationship, M/M, Sad Ending, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:29:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,507
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28559097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perthtalay/pseuds/perthtalay
Summary: Through various colours that Lee Minho's life was dyed with, he tries to figure out when he lost Seo Changbin.
Relationships: Kim Seungmin/Seo Changbin, Lee Minho | Lee Know & Seo Changbin, Lee Minho | Lee Know/Seo Changbin
Kudos: 17





	DYE

**Author's Note:**

> it was written and edited in like three hours, pls bare with me

**I. RED**

Maybe it was the first time they actually talked that made him lose Seo Changbin.

Lee Minho liked thinking that the fourth of September, just after they began their last year of middle school, was the day he truly showed himself to his best friend of nine years. They were going back home from school like they always did, first Minho walking Changbin to his home, then going back to his own. It was already late, the sun was setting and Lee Minho found himself staring at the red sky above their heads.

“I'm done.” That was what he sighed without even thinking. The next moment he was spilling everything that was heaving down his heart.

He told Seo Changbin how he was done talking with Bang Chan, their mutual friend at some point, a friend of Changbin before that and a friend of Minho after; he told him how done he was with receiving texts at ungodly hours and being guilted into responding, and how the texts were always about Bang Chan and Bang Chan's problems, and Bang Chan's everything; he told him how he was done doing everything to fix Bang Chan while not being able to fix himself. He didn't tell him he just broke up with Bang Chan the same way he didn't tell him he had confessed and the same way he didn't tell him he had liked Bang Chan. It didn't matter.

(Or maybe it did matter so much that Lee Minho would stay up carving red lines into the quiet of his mind instead of talking to someone, because he didn't know if Seo Changbin would understand the fire burning inside of him. Maybe he was already worried about losing him.)

Seo Changbin was a good friend, definitely better than Lee Minho at the time. He forgave his best friend for neglecting him throughout almost the whole time he was friends with Bang Chan without even a word. They just moved on and never talked about it again, and Lee Minho promised to himself that he would never let himself stain his head or heart with the same red feeling he had with Bang Chan.

  
  


**II. VIOLET**

  
  


Maybe it was the time when he broke a heart for the second time in his life.

It was New Year's Eve, he was with Seo Changbin and a few of their other friends. The first year of high school. He was wearing a violet shirt that matched the glittery champagne Lee Felix poured into his glass without even asking as they were all waiting for the countdown.

Lee Minho was standing behind all of his friends with a small smile on his face. He felt happy and, for the first time in forever, he felt hopeful. He was deep in thought when Seo Changbin moved so he could be right next to him and elbowed him in the side.

“Here's to next year, huh?”

Lee Minho nodded. There was an unusual vibe to Seo Changbin that reminded him of the sky littered with stars after a sunny day — somewhere between dark as usual and a violet shade that blended in perfectly. In short, Seo Changbin wasn't as dark as he was on a daily basis and for a moment Lee Minho thought that maybe the atmosphere of hope was in the air and not just in his brain.

But then Seo Changbin said something and then said another thing, and Lee Minho had to say _I'm sorry_ , and run away to the bathroom, and let his tears drop onto his violet shirt, and try not to wonder if he had just ruined their friendship by not feeling the same.

The next day Seo Changbin wasn't the violet night sky anymore and Lee Minho knew it was his fault.

  
  


**III. ORANGE**

  
  


Maybe it was the first time his heart moved in that way around Seo Changbin.

It was a long time after Seo Changbin confessed and they were both doing their best not to talk about it. It wasn't awkward, no, but Lee Minho felt stiff every time they mentioned anything love-related. It was like he was put in a tight collar when his best friend had no trouble breathing and had the most fun joking around about liking someone and dating someone, and marrying someone. Lee Minho knew Seo Changbin didn't like him anymore, because he already talked about at least five girls he went out with, but somehow he still was thinking about that night from time to time.

Everything happened quickly, just how everything does in life where you can't put anything in slow motion and focus on everyone's face expressions, so everything passes you by if you lose focus for a moment.

One moment he was sitting on a bench on a break during their football practice, saying that he's thirsty, the next Seo Changbin was giggling, on one knee before Lee Minho with a bottle of orange juice.

“Will you take this bottle as your engagement present and me as your husband?” he asked, laughing quietly.

Lee Minho wasn't stumped, no, he joked back, saying _yes_ and taking the bottle. It was only after they finally went home and he took out the almost empty bottle with the rest of the orange juice and a little scratched label that he sat straight in his chair and didn't move for a few moments.

_Seo Changbin just proposed to him and he said_ yes. But the worst part was the flutter in his stomach when he saw his best friend kneeling in front of him and giggling like he always did. And somehow he knew exactly what that meant, yet he still buried that deep inside, not letting that feeling come back even when seeing a bottle of orange juice.

  
  


**IV. INDIGO**

  
  


Maybe it was the first time he had hugged Seo Changbin.

It was almost embarrassing how they had known each other for thirteen years yet still never hugged. They held hands a few times, they knew everything about each other, but it seemed like hugs were off charts. Lee Minho thought Seo Changbin just wasn't a person who would like skinship and after so many years it would be plain awkward to even try to hug him.

But one December evening he suddenly got a text that said _I'm in front of our house, come outside_ , so he took his dog and used walking him as an excuse to be able to go meet Seo Changbin.

He looked awful. Bloodshot eyes and trembling lips, struggling to stay still.

“My parents are kicking me out,” he said, not waiting for Lee Minho to say anything like he couldn't wait any longer to get it out or wasn't sure if he would be able to say anything if he waited any longer. “They found out I'm bi.”

_The elephant_. The one they were ignoring for the past three years.

“You can stay with us,” Lee Minho said, almost asking instead of offering. “I mean, I think my parents would be–”

He was interrupted by Seo Changbin throwing himself at him, his weak arms holding Lee Minho's neck tightly and his worried face hidden somewhere in between them. Then he listened to his best friend saying how he would stay with his uncle for a while, how he would have to drop out of uni to work, how he had ruined his life, and didn't say anything, just held his tiny waist, too tiny in that moment — almost fragile, and hummed softly the only song that came to his mind as the dark winter sky and broken lamps on his street hid them in an indigo shadow, where they could be themselves for some time.

_Broken and lost, but together_. That was what helped Lee Minho keep his head above the water that was starting to get darker and darker.

  
  


**V. YELLOW**

  
  


Maybe it was the time when he finally realised what he was feeling.

Fridays were a blessing. Seo Changbin wasn't working in the record store and Lee Minho didn't have any classes, what meant they were hanging out together, catching up and reminiscing the old times.

Seo Changbin was talking about the old couple coming in every two weeks to buy a vinyl and Lee Minho was talking about his newest assignment from creative writing class.

“It's about colours.”

Seo Changbin asked what did he mean and Lee Minho had to say he didn't really know, but he figured he'd write about how different emotions feel like different colours.

“Like, sadness feels green to me. And happiness is orange.”

“That's unusual.” For Seo Changbin sadness was violet and happiness was red.

“What about love?” he asked, not looking at Lee Minho.

It was yellow.

And in that moment everything made perfect sense. Because yellow has become his favourite colour lately and Seo Changbin had always felt like yellow highlighters in his notes and golden sunsets they watched together at the lake. And Seo Changbin was the definition of love that he was looking for.

For Seo Changbin love was blue. Lee Minho laughed, saying that usually it would be sadness that felt blue, and his friend answered that sometimes they're not that different. He didn't ask what that had meant, fearing the answer he could have gotten.

  
  


**VI. BLUE**

  
  


Maybe it was the time he willingly let his heart break.

It was a Saturday this time, since it was already the third year Lee Minho was in uni and he didn't have free Fridays anymore and Seo Changbin was working a nine-to-five in an office. They were meeting like that for some time now, pretending neither of them felt the widening gap between them as one spoke about work and the other about studying, no middle ground anymore.

“I'm dating someone.”

It was out of the blue. Lee Minho was left shocked, but only for a moment. He was a better friend than in middle school. He knew how to react to things and what to say in various situations.

“Who? Do I know them? Tell me about it, oh my gosh, I can't believe!”

And Seo Changbin did tell his best friend about Kim Seungmin, a cute intern who studies management at the same uni where Lee Minho studies law, who is absolutely perfect in every way, who understands him like no one else, who likes vanilla latte (Lee Minho likes americano) and western pop (Lee Minho likes old rock), and has a little puppy (Lee Minho adopted a third cat last weekend), and dyed his hair blue (Lee Minho has had red hair for the last two months), and who he feels like he has known his whole life (he has known Lee Minho for the last sixteen years of his life).

And Lee Minho had to keep a smile on his face and let the good friend Minho talk instead of the in-love Minho, and be excited, because after all it was his best friend's happiness and he was still happy to see Seo Changbin like that. Lee Minho knew that he was a better friend than he would have ever been as a lover.

  
  


**VII. GREEN**

  
  


Maybe it was the time he decided his friend's happiness was the thing that mattered the most to him.

Firstly, he had helped Seo Changbin choose the engagement ring. He did everything he could to keep him away from the orange stones, accidentally guiding him to a ring with a small emerald. He looked at the big smile on his best friend's face and still felt the sting in his heart as he comforted him, claiming that Kim Seungmin would say _yes_ for sure.

In fact, he ended up liking Kim Seungmin after all, although they would bicker all the time, it was in the most friendly way possible. He didn't have to warn him not to break his friend's heart when for multiple reasons he couldn't even bring himself to do it.

Secondly, he looked at Seo Changbin going down on one knee and promising to love Kim Seungmin forever. He focused his gaze on the wall covered in ivy behind them. Somehow he could still smile, his heart not breaking anymore as it used to at any sight of the two together. He knew they would be happy and that knowledge almost made him able to ignore the _what if_ in his mind.

“Will you take this ring as a promise and me as your husband?”

Lee Minho did his best not to reminiscence. He thought about work that was waiting for him the next day and planned out the questions for his client.

He also agreed when Seo Changbin asked him to be his best man. After all he was his best friend and being a best friend came before being in love. He already knew he could handle any type of heartbreak as long as it meant Seo Changbin would smile.

Thirdly, he stood on the stage in front of all the guests. He wore a green suit with pride and held a glass of champagne that in the sunshine of a late-summer evening looked almost aquamarine.

“I've known Changbin for twenty-two out of the twenty-eight years of my life. We met in preschool, he stole my yellow pencil and I was too scared to ask for it back, so I just went with it. Somehow we became friends.”

“I'm proud to say we have never had an argument. This is mostly because he always made sure to resolve any problem before it escalated. One time I got seriously mad at him and he made me laugh again in just thirty minutes. I think that was when I knew that whoever would marry him someday would be the luckiest person on this planet.”

~~“Once I asked him what colour did love feel like for him. He said it was blue. I laughed, but now it makes perfect sense. Because, you see, Changbin has always felt like yellow. He was the warmth of a sunrise and the time you spent with him felt like you were a sunflower turning towards the sun. But Seungmin, he is green, he's the deep sea and a good luck charm.~~

~~And yellow mixed with blue makes green.”~~

“So today I'd like to believe I'm handing this man out to you, Seungmin. I know you will treat him just how he deserves to. Here's to the grooms and their happiness!”

Lee Minho didn't leave early, he danced all night until his thoughts mixed all together into an ugly shade of brown and he had realised that the sting wasn't gone, but was finally bearable. He was there, in the green armour in the middle of a battle with a dagger in his heart, thinking about what was to come, not hopeful, but not in despair either, knowing he would have to learn how to meet the future with the wound inside that he would never be able to heal.

**Author's Note:**

> the song minho hummed in indigo was iris by goo goo dolls.


End file.
